GARDENER'S WORD - IDEAS AND TIPS

This year, instead of growing Abyssinian gladioli in my garden border like last year, I have planted them in three large terracotta pots on the top patio of my small garden where they will get full sun. I have several large containers on that patio, all on plant caddies, and I ca\n roll them around, changing their positions, depending on whether they are coming into flower or finished flowering.   Abyssinian Gladioli in large terracotta containers Not long ago it was Dutch Irises at the front (you can see them in the image below beginning to die back) and they will not put on a display again until next year. I try to make the most of the space I have. I have a lot of Darwin tulips on order and they are going to look fantastic (I hope) next spring on that top patio.  Last year, when the Abyssinian gladioli corms were planted in the garden , they increased in size dramatically. The mother corm dies off each year and a youngster takes its place.  It will be interestin...

It is 16 October 2025 and a recent arrival to my garden is Acer palmatum Sango-Kaku, also known as the Coral-bark maple. I'm already hooked on Japanese maples (acers) but am limited with regard to numbers by the size of my garden which, at most, is 30ft by 30ft, and already houses a garden room and a shed.  In the images below you can see its spring and autumnal colours and even when all the leaves are shed, there will still be that outstanding bark!  UPDATE :  It is now the 7th of May, 2026, and Sango is doing well.  I have taken new photographs to show that.  Acer palmatum Sango-Kaku - May 7, 2026 Sango-Kaku can, over time, achieve 8 metres if left to do as it pleases. It is of bushy habit and mine is going to be restricted by root pruning. It is already 3ft (90cm) tall and reaching for the stars.  It needed repotting as it was already rather root bound and I don't want to inhibit its growth just yet.  Acer palmatum Sango-Kaku - May 7, 2026 I didn't...

In May 2014 I bought an Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream' from a British store that sells everything from clothes, to beauty products, to flowers and food. Not so much plants nowadays. The plant was small and cost me £15, which was quite expensive back then. It was a beautiful thing but it quickly died and that was when I first discovered that dreaded vine weevils had arrived in my garden and had eaten all its roots! In 2023, I finally eradicated vine weevils by desperately bombarding my garden with Nemasys, not just as recommended but monthly, I wasn't having those munching weevils and their little root gnawing offspring killing off anything else. It was expensive but money well spent.  Acer palmatum 'Orange Dream' - October 2025 - repotted A week or so ago, I decided to buy another 'Orange Dream' and so I ordered one from a seller on Amazon for just short of £13. I had used them before and they were excellent but, oh boy, the 'Orange Dream' turned up ...

For quite a few years now I have had the Japanese anemone 'September Charm' growing in my garden and it is a beautiful thing. Some people are shy of growing Japanese anemones as they have a reputation of being invasive. I don't consider them invasive as they are easily controlled just by dead heading the flowers before they make seed and pulling up any offspring produced on runners if they are unwanted.   Japanese anemone hupehensis 'Snow Angel' The above plant was delivered yesterday, 26th September 2025, bought from Thompson and Morgan, and it is healthy and full of buds.  Japanese anemone hupehensis 'Snow Angel' The RHS have a webpage dedicated to it:   RHS Anemone hupehensis Snow Angel  and they have titled it Anemone hupehensis 'Ifansa'  PBR  (Fantasy Series). It is totally hardy, quite unfussy as to aspect preferring full sun or partial shade, and achieves a height and spread of between 0.5 and 1 metre.  It flowers summer and autumn whi...

Acidanthera murielae is also known as, wait for it, Abyssinian Gladiolus, Sword Lily, Peacock Lily, Gladiolus murielae or callianthus. I bought my acidanthera corms (they are not technically bulbs which have layers like an onion) online a couple of years ago, in 2023, and that first year I planted them in a pot but, although I did get a flower on a tall stem that year, the leaves kept folding and drooping. It was very disappointing. I grew them again in a pot last year, placing the pot in a different and even more sheltered position, and yet the same thing happened with the leaves and that time no flowers. Never one to give in easily, this year I have planted the bulbs in a sunny garden border at the top of my garden's slight slope but somewhat protected by the side of the garden room facing north and away from the wind. Success at last. If at first you don't succeed... Acidanthera aka Abyssinian gladioli I plant the corms when the danger of a hard frost has passed here in West...

Last winter, by accident, I left an  Osteospermum juncundum  in a garden container and it survived. Osteospermums are South African plants and to think it survived all winter here, high up on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire, is remarkable, I think. When I saw it growing in spring, I repotted it and it has flowered all summer, making bud after bud. It's lovely and healthy.  In fact, it is still in flower right now, late October, and still full of buds.  This winter, though, I am taking no chances and I've  taken it into my garden room . You watch, it'll drop dead on me now I'm giving some of my tender loving care!  Osteospermum jucundum  According to the Royal Horticultural Society information on Osteospermums , they have a plant hardiness rating of H3.

I've just posted about Polystichum polyblepharum which I bought the other day along with Polystichum setiferum 'Proliferum'.  The latter fern cost twice the price of the other. It is quite beautiful as the fronds are very soft and lacy in appearance. Polystichum setiferum 'Proliferum' The label shows that  Polystichum setiferum 'Proliferum' enjoys partial shade, achieves a height of 70cm (2ft4in) is hardy down to -15, and is evergreen. More than 10,000 varieties of fern are found all over the word. Ferns reproduce by spors. They filter polluted air and produce pure oxygen.  This plant should no be placed in full sun but should receive much light indirectly. Water sufficiently to keep the soil moist. What more could I want.  It will go against the house wall, in a container, facing kind of east, so it will get full morning sun and then shade from noon onwards.  

It's been quite a while since I last posted. I've been keeping up with the garden but the garden room keeps beckoning and I keep getting lazy and sitting in there, reading. Even when it's windy, it can be toasty warm in there if there is some sunshine to warm it up.  While my back was turned, critters have destroyed the hostas —not killed them, but savaged the leaves so badly that I decided just to get rid of the plants entirely.  Tragic really because they were so beautiful when intact, but they have been plagued with vine weevils and snails, and the leaves have ended up shredded or full of holes. In their place, I am growing ferns which seem to escape such devastation. I have a small path in my garden, near the house, and already one side of the path is bordered with ferns . One new fern for my collection (I have about eleven) of ferns is Polystichum polyblepharum.  It's very shiny! It caught my attention straight off at the garden centre. A had to have. Polystic...

A new member of my garden's family of plants is Lathyrus 'Rainbow'.  It's a delightful, herbaceous plant and I'm only sorry that I found it when the flowers were ageing and pods were forming.  The pods are lovely, a maroonish colour, but the garden centre allowing them to develop has been at the expense of more flowers being produced.  So, since taking the photograph, I have cut them off.  If more flowers are produced at this late stage, I hope to provide a better photo. Lathyrus vernus (spring pea) 'Rainbow'. What I love, apart from the pretty flowers, is the straggly, delicate appearance of a plant which is relatively compact.  The label has this to say: "Lathyrus vernus 'Rainbow' is an attractive, clump-forming, fully hardy plant with late spring flowers in shades of carmine-red, light pink, lilac, rose, and white.  It re-grows from ground level every year.  The flowers are good for cutting.  It achieves a height of 40cm (16") an...

What a fabulous shrub!  As soon as I saw the small Exochorda macrantha 'The Bride' today while visiting a garden centre with a friend, I had to have it.  It was a little pricey but it was so heavily laden with creamy buds and white blooms that I think it is worth every penny.  It's a small shrub and a slow grower, taking 10 years to achieve full height and breadth, but that's fine because I'm a bit short of garden space.  I work on the principle that something will probably die at some point and make room.  If not, things will just have to budge over a bit, won't they!  Exochorda macrantha 'The Bride' - aka Pearl Bush For now, I have planted the young Exochorda macrantha into a terracotta pot.  Exochorda macrantha 'The Bride' - aka Pearl Bush The label says: "This plant/cultivar has been awarded the RHS Award of Garden Merit (AGM) because it has proved to be reliable in appropriate conditions and a good performing plant."  Th...

Spring is my favourite time of year.  I like to see all the plants waking up and forming buds and spring flowers are so pretty and often a lot tougher than they look.  Today, May 3, I went with a friend to a garden centre in Harden, West Yorkshire and had a mooch around, like I do.  I came back home with three plants.  One, which I mention here, is a little pot of white flowers on tallish stems: Hyacinthoides Hispanica aka Scilla campanulata 'White' also known as Spanish Bluebells.  I wish those in charge would make their minds up what we gardeners should call things!  A delicate thing it appears, with slender straplike leaves and tall stems.  It's a spring bulb, which I had not seen before. Hyacinthoides Hispanica aka Scilla campanulata 'White' Hyacinthoides Hispanica aka Scilla campanulata 'White' The label says that Scilla campanulata White has scented spikes of white flowers every spring.  It is hardy and perennial....

I always tend to get confused when I have my eye on a certain plant and the label tells me it needs a certain condition, partial shade, plant hardiness zone , or whatever, and I am left trying to work out if my garden's growing conditions fit the bill.  After all, for example, my kitchen window faces more or less eastward.  In winter, if we are lucky enough to get any sun at all, it only gets a few hours until, perhaps, only 9 or 10 a.m., then it is in shade. At that time of year, there are very few plants there to worry about.  However, in spring and summer it's a different story when my garden comes alive. most are dormant. That same place can get full blazing sun until mid-day when the sun heads over to the other side of my home.  So, does that count as partial shade?  Apparently it does. East facing wall with morning summer sun and plants that get partial shade FIFTY SHADES OF SHADE AND LIGHT Full sun is an area that get...

Every now and then (ok then, quite often) I spot a must-have plant and even though I have absolutely no idea how I am going to find a space for it, I just had to have this buddleia today.  Buddleia Davidii Nanho Blue has such bobby-dazzler flowers, a lavender blue with an orange centre, that even the lady at the sales counter remarked upon it, as did the lady in the car park before I could even get it safely tucked behind the seat of my car to bring it to its new home.  I'm glad I grabbed it when I did from the Royal Horticultural Society display at Harlow Carr because there was only one of them.  Buddleia Davidii Nanho Blue 01072016 Apart from the attractive blue panicles which will attract butterflies and other pollinators to my garden from June to September, this deciduous buddleia also has a relatively compact bushy habit (approx 150cm x 150cm - 5ft x 5ft), the stems are a maroonish red, the leaves greyish and pointed.  Its ov...

Ajuga reptans 'Braunherz' is a wonderful mat-forming ground-covering plant for the garden.  It has really bronze coloured foliage which spreads along the soil on runners, and spikes of eye-catching purple-blue flowers.  It's a very hardy evergreen perennial which is suitable for a wide range of soil types and tolerates full sun or partial shade according to the Royal Horticultural Society.   I've planted mine in the border at the front of my home where it will get full sun in the afternoon.  Have you noticed, a cheeky little greenfly is having a go at it in the image below.   How dare it! Ajuga reptans 'Braunherz' The label says that Ajuga reptans 'Braunherz' has deep blue flower spikes above carpets of glossy purple-bronze foliage.  It is suitable for borders as ground cover, rockeries, banks and gravel gardens, in sun or partial shade on moist but well-drained soil.  It flowers from mid spring to early summer.  It a...

I planted Helianthemum 'The Bride' last year, when it was a quite small plant, at the top of a sloping south-east facing sunny border.  Since then it has spread to about 30cm (12in) diameter and is full of flower buds.  The flowers remind me of poached eggs but when you look closely, the petals are crinkled like silk. The foliage is an interesting grey-green which indicates it likes sunshine.   Helianthemum 'The Bride' The label says that Helianthemum 'The Bride' (also known as Snow Queen) is an evergreen mat forming perennial producing masses of white flowers with a yellow centre over light green foliage.  It is suitable for rockeries, borders, walls, banks, paving, gravel gardens, containers and pots.  It flowers from late spring to early summer.  It achieves a height of 25cm (10in) and spread of 40cm (16in).  It likes full sun or partial shade and free draining soil. According to the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) it has a hardiness ...

I'm off to a slow start this year with my gardening and my blog has been neglected. In fairness, we have had such heavy rainfall over winter that my soil has been like wet lead and not only that but I've felt like lead and not up to doing the chores.  But I am getting a move on now, little by little.  I bought some Tete a Tete daffodils a week or so ago, eight bulbs in a pot.  After taking the photographs, I put the pot on the outside kitchen window bottom.  It's wonderful to see their bright little faces through the glass.  Tete a Tete daffodils 14/04/2016 Since buying this pot, I have bought three more pots of Tete a Tete daffodils.  The thing is, Tete a Tetes don't grow tall and so are not so susceptible to strong winds knocking their heads off.  Also, one bulb will provide more than one flower stem with often two flowers on the stem.  They really are a must in my garden.  When they have finished flowering, the bulbs will...

It's been a wet but mild winter and many plants in my garden have scarcely gone into hibernation—unlike me.  Today we have beautiful weather, a little cool but sunny and dry.  Of course, it could snow tomorrow.  Who knows?  A neighbour who is happily taking my row of seven Arthur Bell roses from me and planting them in her garden has shamed me into action.  I am finding gardening more and more difficult as years go by (don't we all?) and am now getting rid of plants that give me the most work; that includes roses.  I am no winter gardener and so I try to begin my spring gardening gently, to ease unused muscles into gradual awakening.  Today I cut back the dead and straggly growth on the Arctic Queen clematis to 18 inches (50cm) or so above its base.  It might be a bit early but it's planted in a pot which is overwintering in a sheltered position and will remain there for a little while yet until I can trust the weather not to turn suddenly sp...

After weeks of mild temperatures and flood-causing rain here in West Yorkshire, we have been warned that colder weather is approaching.  My garden plants don't know what time of year it is, with temperatures occasionally in double figures.  Although leaves have fallen off many of the climbing plants, many of the penstemons are still lush and green and there is the odd rose in bloom.  Next week though sub-zero temperatures are forecast and my thoughts have turned to those more tender plants stored in my two mini-greenhouses.  One has two covers on it; a clear one and a strong clear and green outer one.  I've been out today and put a second jacket on the other mini-greenhouse.  Mini-greenhouses with plants for overwintering Inside, under protection, there are still leaves on the flat Italian parsley, the marjoram, thyme, and other small herbs are clearly not dormant, and the fuchsias in the four hanging baskets which were cut back and de-leafed, have l...

Finally, I have cut back hard the trailing fuchsias, Swingtime and Southgate, that have decorated four hanging baskets all summer long.  I hated to do it as there were still plenty of flowers and buds on the plants but the leaves were starting to fall and you just cannot trust the weather anywhere nowadays, including high up on the Pennine Mountains of West Yorkshire where I live.  I'm never sure what is the best way for me to overwinter fuchsias as I have no room for them indoors, and I don't have a regular greenhouse.  Still, last year I put the whole baskets with cut down fuchsias in a Gardman mini-growhouse (I call them mini-greenhouses) and most, if not all, of the plants survived.  This year I have done the same.  Gardman mini-growhouse, flaps open to air plants on sunny day November 2015 Southgate and Swingtime fuchsias are half-hardy which means they will tolerate temperatures down to 0 degrees centigrade and 32 degrees fahrenheit....

In April last year I bought a Syringa 'Red Pixie' (a dwarf lilac) and planted it a short distance from a wooden fence at a point where it gets a few hours of sun in the morning.  After it had flowered, I trimmed the shrub in order to encourage it to grow in a fan-shape rather than as a bush.  Behind it I am growing a Dr Ruppel clematis and  jasminum officinale  (I also grow jasmine on a north-facing fence, see this link).  These three plants, two of them very fragrant (the lilac and the jasmine), are not so very far from my kitchen window and I am hoping that when the plants mature and when the kitchen window is open that the fragrance will travel into my home.  That's the plan.  I'm pleased to say that my gentle pruning, and the fact that Alfie, my Ragdoll cat, has a habit of rubbing against the lilac, haven't discouraged the lilac from flowering.  It's loaded with fragrant pink blooms right now. Syringa 'Red Pixie' So...